title: Intracranial atherosclerosis as a contributing factor to Alzheimer's disease dementia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A substantial body of evidence collected from epidemiologic, correlative, and experimental studies strongly associates atherosclerotic vascular disease (AVD) with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Depending on the precise interrelationship between AVD and AD, systematic application of interventions used to maintain vascular health and function as a component of standard AD therapy offers the prospect of mitigating the presently inexorable course of dementia. To assess this hypothesis, it is vital to rigorously establish the measures of AVD that are most strongly associated with an AD diagnosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  A precise neuropathological diagnosis was established for all subjects, using a battery of genetic, clinical, and histological methods. The severity of atherosclerosis in the circle of Willis was quantified by direct digitized measurement of arterial occlusion in postmortem specimens and was compared between AD and nondemented control groups by calculating a corresponding index of occlusion.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Atherosclerotic occlusion of the circle of Willis arteries was more extensive in the AD group than in the nondemented control group. Statistically significant differences were also observed between control and AD groups with regard to Braak stage, total plaque score, total neurofibrillary tangle score, total white matter rarefaction score, brain weight, Mini-Mental State Examination scores, and apolipoprotein E allelic frequencies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results, combined with a consideration of the multifaceted effects of impaired cerebral circulation, suggest an immediate need for prospective clinical trials to assess the efficacy of AD prevention using antiatherosclerotic agents.
authors.affiliation: The Longtine Center for Neurodegenerative Biochemistry, Banner Sun Health Research Institute, Sun City, AZ, USA. alex.roher@bannerhealth.com
authors.forename: Alex E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Roher
authors.forename: Suzanne L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Tyas
authors.forename: Chera L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Maarouf
authors.forename: Ian D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Daugs
authors.forename: Tyler A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Kokjohn
authors.forename: Mark R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Emmerling
authors.forename: Zsolt
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Garami
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Belohlavek
authors.forename: Marwan N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Sabbagh
authors.forename: Lucia I
authors.initials: LI
authors.lastname: Sue
authors.forename: Thomas G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Beach
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000209:etiology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D053327:Apolipoprotein E4 / Q000235:genetics; D002941:Circle of Willis / Q000473:pathology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D002537:Intracranial Arteriosclerosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D016874:Neurofibrillary Tangles / Q000473:pathology; D058225:Plaque, Amyloid / Q000473:pathology; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012307:Risk Factors; D014652:Vascular Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D053327:Apolipoprotein E4